"It feels like basic training all over again."

First of all thank you to everyone who is following our journey through this blog. Also, thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who is praying for us. We truly covet your prayers. And finally a big thanks to everyone who has emailed us and left comments on our blog. Just knowing that others our standing with us is huge! Ok, now to today's blog... Tonight as I was laying across the bed, after I got Robert to sleep, I was thinking... "man, the way I feel right now seems very familiar." I am sore all over and I am spent physically, mentally and emotionally. Then it dawned on me... this is the way I felt in 86' when I was in the ARMY. I had my basic training down at Ft. Benning and this is the way I felt way back then! There are so many similarities. Let me share just a few:

1) Upon arrival everything you have is taken away

Army- They took all my clothes, toiletries, everything.

Brazil- The airline took all my clothes, toiletries, everything. But at least I got them back.

2) My head is shaved

Army- They shaved my head on the 2nd day of bootcamp. It's the military way.

Brazil- I shaved my head on the 2nd day. It's so hot, there's no AC and I'm sure we're

closer to the sun here.

3) Being yelled at and told that everything I'm doing is wrong

Army- The Drill Sargeants are always yelling at you and telling you you're wrong.

Brazil- Ok, I'm here with my wife and mother-in-law... need I say more?

4) The food is totally different than what I was use to

Army- Some of the food was unrecognizable... and who ever thought of an MRE

Brazil- Most of the food is unrecognizable... sometimes I'm afraid to ask what it is?

5) The Mess Hall is a place of stress

Army- In bootcamp you had about 3 minutes to eat your entire meal or you would definitely

be in trouble. No time to fellowship or talk.

Brazil- Here at the retreat center we have about 3 miutes to eat. Not because anyone is

making us though. Have you ever tried to feed this many little kids at one time? When we finish our meal it looks like there was an explosion of black beans and rice. There is definitely no time to fellowship or talk... we're on a mission just to feed everyone without breaking anything.

6) Going on road marches and carrying a heavy ruck sack

Army- When we went on road marches we carried all our gear in a ruck sack on our back.

It weighed about 70lbs. It had our stuff... shelter, clothes, bedroll, etc.

Brazil- When we leave the building, which is everyday, we carry a very heavy backpack. It

has everything in it from wet wipes to water balloons. It also has 11 water bottles in it

all ranging from big to small and all are different colors. Everybody has thier own

color. Why, I still can't figure out because everybody is drinking out of mine!

7) There are a lot of tears and snot flying

Army-In basic they took all of us to the gas chamber. They then made us breathe CS gas
(tear gas) so that we would know what it was like if we encountered it in combat.

There was a lot of tears and snot slingin goin on.

Brazil-From day 1 there has been a lot of tears and snot slingin going on. And I'm just

talking about the adults!

8) Your body is totally broken down and tired

Army- You start your day by running and PT (physical training). You march to hours on

end. You are being pushed every waking hour. You are so sore and the first few weeks

there you don't think you'll make it. And you think your body can't take it but you

perservere.

Brazil- We start our day by running after kids and PT (potty training). We are refereeing

and trying to train our kids to hours on end. My body is so sore from see-sawing,

pushing kids on swings, playing soccer, running after kids that are constantly in

escape mode, climbing on monkey bars, helping them up and down the slide, etc. I

even tried to do a cartwheel and I think I pulled something. We are being pushed

every waking hour. We've only been here a week and sometimes I don't think we'll

make it but we perservere.

But then I think about the payoff. After a while in the ARMY your body got stronger

and all the physical and mental stuff didn't effect you any longer. Actually it was the struggle

in the begining that gave you the power to be effective in the end. I believe that the things we

are experiencing right now are only going to make us stronger and more effective in the end.

These kids deserve a chance... just like every child does. I know that what we're doing right

now is only making a small impact on the orphan issue globally (there are currently 143

million orphans worldwide)... but, I also know that what we're doing for our 5 is going to make

a huge impact on thier lives forever.

I only cried 2 or 3 times today (this is an improvement). The one I will tell you about as I end

today's blog is this... Mary Jane and I were able to catch a little bit of one of the services live on
line today. As we were watching, it was very emotional for us because we miss our church

family so bad. But, as we were watching Diogo walked up to us as we were veiwing and we told

him in Portuguese that this was our church, his church. You should have seen the smile on his

face! He just sat there totally glued to the screen as worship was going. Just then, Pastor got

up into the pulpit and was singing and then let out a 'hallelujah' and as soon as he did Diogo

said, "halleujah" with a thick Portuguese accent. We just sat there amazed at what we had just

heard out of the mouth of our 5 year old. He said it with conviction too! For some reason that just helped bring things back into focus for me. We aren't just rescuing children from an

orphanage. We are raising mighty men and women of God who are going to have an impact on

thier world. As far as how I feel physically, mentally, and emotionally... bring it on because

we're on a mission from God and NOTHING will stop us!

We love you guys!

Battered and Bruised in Brazil